School 25 cafeteria is shut; mouse

droppings cited

Thursday, October 23, 2008

By TOM SHORTELL

JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Jersey City health inspectors closed the cafeteria of School 25 in the Heights on Tuesday after receiving a tip about mouse problems on the building's ground floor.

Inspectors found mice droppings in the ground floor cafeteria and the basement of the Kennedy Boulevard school, said Jennifer Morrill, the mayor's spokeswoman.

Inspectors closed the cafeteria after lunch on Tuesday and it will remain closed until it can pass inspection, officials said. In the meantime, cafeteria workers cannot heat food for the school's 723 kindergarten through fifth grade students, officials said.

Meals at School 25 are cooked elsewhere, but heated and served in the cafeteria, said Jersey City Public Schools spokesman Gerard Crisonino. The school has called in exterminators and needs to board up any access points mice could have to the building, Morrill said.

Crisonino said the Board of Education hopes the cafeteria can be reopened today, when health inspectors are expected to re-examine the building.

The violations aren't as severe as inspectors made them out to be, he added. "The health violations were not that egregious. However, we don't want any of our facilities to not be the best environment for students," he said.

Students ate breakfast in their classrooms yesterday, and no lunch was scheduled since it was a half day, he said.

Most students at the school get lunches for free or at reduced prices through a federal food program, he added.

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FACTS YOU SHOULD KNOW

THIS SCHOOL YEAR ALONE AS REPORTED BY THE MEDIA:
• School # 15: Closed down for three weeks because of mold problem in the gym. The school officials, for many months, were aware of water intrusion into the gym but took no immediate action to remedy the problem.
• School # 16: In October 2007, the trailer housing kindergarten children was shut down because of mold.
• Schools 11, 23, 31, 6, 35, and 27: In Jan. 2008, drinking water was shut off and bottled water was distributed among children. In Sept. 2006, EPA warned the district of high level of lead in the drinking water. There is another 39 school buildings that have not been tested.
• School 9: March 2003, mouse droppings were found in the school.

HEALTHY SCHOOL MATTERS:
• A healthy school not only contributes to the comfort, health, and well-being of students but also allows students to perform better academically.
• A total 29,288 students (12.5% of Jersey City population), 2,900 teachers, many other school staff spend an important part of their day in public schools across the city.
• Many schools in Jersey City were built decades ago with little regard for indoor air quality and environmental safety standards.
• Children are more vulnerable than adults to health hazards.
• A typical school has four times more occupants than an office building of similar size.
• EPA ranks indoor air pollution among five health risk facing American.
• According to EPA, indoor air pollutant is 2 to 5 times or sometimes even 100 times more dangerous than outside air pollutant.

WHAT WE WANT:
1. Following the US Environmental Protection Agency’s communication guidelines, Jersey City District should immediately notify parents of its timeline for testing drinking water in all schools and correcting any identified lead problem.
2. Create a standing committee of the Board of Education that is exclusively responsible for health and environmental safety of our schools. Three parents should be a part of this committee.
3. Create an Indoor Air quality Team following EPA guidelines at the district level. This team should partly consist of parents.
4. Issue semi-annual health and safety report cards for each school to parents of children in Jersey City beginning in August 2008.

Please read our Call to Action: Health and Safety Proposal

ACT NOW: Healthy Schools for Jersey City Children

Thursday, October 30, 2008